Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier last night revealed that captain Sami Hyypia is driven by a dream of making Anfield history.

The Finnish international scored the winner in the defeat of Bayer Leverkusen in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final. And Hyypia is determined to become the first foreign player to lift Europe's Premier trophy at the club.

Houllier, on the road to recovery after major heart surgery, had the tonic of seeing his team grab a narrow advantage.

He was quick to praise Hyypia, saying: "He is a great defender as you know. His challenge as captain, and he knows it, is to be the first foreign captain to lift this particular trophy in Europe.

"It is a shared vision we have for the club and himself. The big players always play big in matches like this, not only Sami but others as well."

Liverpool now take a slender lead to Germany next Tuesday and Houllier was delighted with the effort put in by his players against the Bundesliga leaders.

"They're a very strong team and to beat them here 1-0 is a good result," he said. "We had more chances in the second half, in the first period we lacked a bit of composure.

"We have kept ourselves in a good position to qualify and I'm very proud of the effort of the players."

Leverkusen coach Klaus Toppmoller is confident his team can turn things around and clinch a semi-final place.

He said: "We know what we have to do. We know we have the players to get a result at home.

"I think we can go through, the team is up for it after giving away a silly goal just before half-time tonight.

"It was really a game of few chances for both sides. They pressed us hard so they could get the second goal and travel with confidence. But I have enough belief in my players to know what we can do in the second leg." Hyypia scored the winner a minute before the break. It was only his second goal in 26 European matches .

John Arne Riise swung in a corner from the left, which evaded the defence and reached Owen.

He cleverly pulled the back for the on-rushing Hyypia to steer his close range shot beyond goalkeeper Hans-Jorg Butt. Liverpool almost added a second in the 57th minute with a spectacular overhead kick by Riise from Smicer's corner which needed a full-length save from Butt.

Leverkusen defender Carsten Ramelow was booked for a rash challenge on Smicer which will rule him out of the return leg.